


What Kind of Culture Is This

by JRanger_Raven



Category: Ranger's Apprentice - John Flanagan
Genre: I mean, M/M, Title, but - Freeform, from the uh, nothing smutty happens i promise it's just a really sexy prompt, oh yeah and they get naked, t for cursing, y'know, you should've gotten that idea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-04
Updated: 2016-04-04
Packaged: 2018-05-31 04:53:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6456688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JRanger_Raven/pseuds/JRanger_Raven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Will and Halt are sent to Nihon-Ja a second time, to tie up any loose ends with Shigeru, and Shigeru insists they explore some of the Nihon-Ja culture while they're there. Namely... a bath house. Things go downhill from there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What Kind of Culture Is This

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to friend midnightkiller1000 for helping edit n stuff

"His Majesty, Duncan-sama worries too much," Shigeru said, sitting across the table from the two Rangers, Will and Halt. He took a short, small sip of his green tea that a servant had prepared for them a few minutes prior. "It's kind of him to check in on us, but I assure you, we are doing just fine."

"I'm sure you have taken control of your country again," Halt said. "We are here just to make sure there are no difficulties."

"Of course not! You're really too kind."

It had been half a year since Araluen had helped fight the war against the Senshi, and Duncan thought it was time for a quick visit to the allied country, just to make sure everything was going well. With Horace unfortunately too busy, because he was the first person Duncan asked, Horace volunteered Will and Halt for the job.

Duncan said, basically, "Just stay a week and make sure everything is okay. Tie up any loose ends, so there aren't any groups of rebels hiding, and nobody's blackmailing him in secret… you get the idea. Two rangers should be enough for this."

Halt told him again, "one ranger one riot", but Duncan disregarded that rule with the excuse that they worked well together, and anyone else would be jumping at the opportunity to go to Nihon-Ja, and if he was really so against working with his apprentice for just one week then he shouldn't have taken five years to train him. Halt didn't argue too hard, and they were sent off on a ship to the Eastern country the morning after the next.

Will tried his best now to squirm in his seat. Sitting in this style had always been weird to a Westerner. He'd developed a stamina over time, but it had been half a year since he visited Nihon-Ja. It would take another day or two for his muscles to get used to it again.

Halt was probably thinking the same thing, but as Will glanced over at him, he saw no uneasiness on his old mentor's face. Instead he had on his world famous poker face he put on during business and usually after it was finished. Will smiled to himself. Typical Halt.

But he liked typical Halt. In fact, he liked him a lot more than he should.

Shigeru continued, breaking Will's train of thought, "Please let Duncan-sama know that we appreciate his concern, but things are going along quite well. We look forward to working with him in the future as two, strong countries."

"We will," Halt replied. "But we were told to stay here a week, so in that time we should look around just to double check. It's not that we don't trust your word."

Shigeru chuckled. "I understand. I admire how thorough you are with your work, Halto-san." He gave the same look to Will, maybe a little more playfully. "Chocho-san."

Will almost laughed, but it ended as a smile on only one side of his mouth. It had been a while since anyone used that name. After he, Horace, Alyss, Halt and Evanlyn had returned from Nihon-Ja the first time, they'd teased him constantly, calling him Chocho-san as well as just "Mr. Butterfly" or "butterfly" every day. Since then it had died down considerably.

"In the meantime," said the Emperor, after calmly taking another sip of his tea, "why don't you enjoy your stay? I understand you have work to do, but last time you were so busy with the Senshi that you didn't get to see the culture we have in Nihon-Ja."

Halt glanced over at Will, who promptly returned it. The look hinted that it was Will's turn to say something, now, seeing as he had hardly spoken since they began the meeting.

"It'd be an honor," Will said. He was downplaying how he really felt. In reality, he had been hoping to get a chance to see the country as a tourist rather than a ranger, and now that he was being offered the chance he was itching to get out there. He figured Halt probably wasn't as excited, but he would come along if Will really was interested.

Shigeru's smile grew brighter. "Great! I can give you some suggestions in the morning of some of places I think you would be interested in. It is getting rather late, though, have you two eaten?"

"We have."

"Then you must be very tired from your trip."

"Trust me, we've been worse," Will joked. Shigeru took it well and laughed; after he had finished Will said, "But thank you again for letting us stay here."

"It's my pleasure." Shigeru stood up from the table, and bowed to the two rangers. They rushed to do the same. Without Shigeru having to say anything, a few guards stepped into the room behind Will and Halt to escort them back.

But as they said their goodbyes and left, Shigeru suddenly called them back. "Oh, and also, you're free to make us of the bath house here. It's a great way to relax before going to bed."

"Bath house?" Will repeated, turning to face him again. They had those back in Araluen, but not very commonly.

"Yes, they're a popular tourist attraction in Nihon-Ja," Shigeru explained. He looked proud, even excited to tell them about his country. It was a trait both he and Duncan shared. "It's what you would consider an open-air sauna. I'll reserve it for you tonight if you want to use it."

Will and Halt gave each other matching glances. "Sounds nice, doesn't it?" Will asked Halt. "We might as well."

They concluded the meeting shortly after that, and two guards escorted them to their rooms. When they left, Will didn't waste a second going straight back over to Halt's room, just across the hall. He slid open the door, leaned on the doorway, and greeted him boldly, "So how about that bath house?"

Halt turned just his head and faced him with a look that said, 'Why are you here?' He hadn't even finished putting his bags where he wanted them. "Can't leave me alone for five seconds, can you?" he asked.

"But we said we would go!"

"And now you're awake? You yawned right before we started the meeting," Halt said. Will had almost forgotten about that. "Now you're jumping around."

"Come on, Halt, you have to be at least a little interested in what they have here," Will said. "It's not every day we get to go to another country."

Halt paused briefly. "Well actually-"

"And not because of a mission."

Halt didn't continue what he was going to say before, but he still looked at Will like he was an idiot. "This is a mission, Will."

Will gave him that special smirk/eyebrow raise that meant he was doubting him, and he knew he'd won but he wanted Halt to admit it first. "Is it really, though?" Will asked, gently.

Halt glared and stood his ground. "It is. This isn't a vacation, Will, as much as you want it to be."

Will rolled his eyes. "But it doesn't all have to be that way. We can still enjoy ourselves while we're here, can't we?"

Halt paused. Underneath it all, he knew that Will was a responsible ranger and had a good sense of when was the time to play and when he had to be serious. It sounded like he had a point this time, so Halt thought maybe he should trust him on this.

Halt sighed, finally answering Will's initial question, "I'll go with you to the bath house because I can't very well refuse the Emperor, but don't get too comfortable here."

"Good, then let's go!" Within a few strides, Will arrived next to Halt, took his hand, and pulled him to the door like there was no time to waste. Will knew he could've grabbed his wrist, but why go for that when he could hold hands with him? They were warm; not soft, but they felt good.

Halt, clueless as to Will's real thoughts, glared. "Will, you're completely missing the point of what I said."

Will suddenly stopped and looked over his shoulder at Halt. He stared like he was judging him, which made no sense since Will was the only one doing anything. "Hey, also get some clean clothes to change into after."

"I was going to if you'd give me half a second."

Halt and Will put together a clean outfit for each of them to change into after, and then left to find the bath house. Shigeru's palace wasn't exactly a small place, and there was no disposable map for them to follow so it was either be escorted there or take the time to find it themselves. Halt and Will both agreed that they were smart people, and if Halt could find his way to Hallasholm then they most certainly could navigate themselves through a building.

But, of course, thirty minutes later, they still couldn't find it. Will gave up and asked some guards where the bath house was, despite Halt's constant protests of "just one more minute, Will we'll find it!" and "we're rangers, dammit, we don't need to ask for directions!"

One guard next to Will slid open the door for them, and the two rangers got their first look into a traditional Nihon-Ja sauna. There were two rooms, the second one only accessible by walking through the first. It must've been the bath itself, because the first room only held two rows of stools and what looked like a small bathing area without any baths. There was a river, or a pool running on either side of the door, stretching down to the end of the room to supply them with water. In the far back was an open door that led outside.

Halt took a second to thank the guards. They nodded without a word, and marched away down the hall. The older ranger walked in the room to where Will already was, and shut the door behind them, probably a little too roughly.

"You wash yourself in this room," Halt told him. "The bath is for relaxing, not cleaning. It's actually very rude to get in when you're still dirty."

Will glanced at him oddly. "You sound like that was obvious," he said.

"I did some research on their etiquette prior to coming here."

Will snorted. "And you didn't mention this before?" he asked. Halt had known all about these saunas and he never said anything.

"I didn't think it'd matter." Halt walked up to one stool, and started putting his clean clothes off to the side. Honestly he just wanted to get this over as soon as possible.

"It's really…" Will began, before he could think through his full sentence. Halt glanced back at him, but Will's eyes were wandering all around the room, taking it all in.

"Hm?"

Will swallowed. "Public," he finished.

Will wasn't looking at Halt, but he could feel him rolling his eyes and looking away in exasperation. And then he'd sigh, Will thought- yup, he did. Right on cue. "Did you expect something different?" Halt asked.

Will shrugged. "I guess so…" He had anticipated a public bath, but showering out in the open like that? That was different. So that meant he had to… Oh no. He hadn't planned that part. And now that he was actually here, Will realized he had underestimated just how nervous-

"Well you're the one who wanted to embrace the country's culture, right?" A tiny smirk pulled on Halt's lips.

Will's blush widened. Now Halt was just teasing him, but Will had gotten himself into this mess and he knew it. Will muttered inaudibly, "I'm not backing out. It's not really a big deal, I was just surprised is all because it's so much different from Araluen and that's part of the experience so you can go-"

"You're mumbling, I can't hear you."

For the first time in a minute, Will whipped his head around to face Halt and glared. "I said-" he began, loudly, but quickly forgot what he was going to say. While they were talking, Will had been so distracted that he hadn't heard Halt undressing. When he finally turned around to look at him, Halt was shirtless, naked all except for his pants, which he was unbuttoning as they spoke. Will choked and stumbled backwards, and the light pink shade on his cheeks turned to a dark red.

Will hadn't seen Halt shirtless since he was an apprentice (and that was an accident), back when Will didn't think about Halt like he did now.

All the physical exercise from being a ranger had toned his chest and stomach perfectly. It didn't matter how old he was, physically he looked like he was in his 20s. He was built so strongly that Will knew a man twice his height and twice his size could punch him and Halt wouldn't feel a thing.

"H-H-Halt, wha-?!" he stuttered. The more he looked at him, the warmer Will's body grew and the louder his heart screamed in his ears. If Will didn't know before then that he had an unnatural attraction to Halt then he sure as hell knew it now.

Only then did he notice Halt was looking away, just as embarrassed as him. Halt didn't let it show in his voice, but the blush was unmistakable.

"Well what am I supposed to do?!" Halt snapped. "This is a bath, isn't it?! Don't get embarrassed. This is how these things work, so shut up and stop making this weird."

Will opened his mouth to say "speak for yourself" when Halt told him to stop being embarrassed, but then thought better of it and quickly turned around before he had to watch Halt strip down the rest of the way. Not that he didn't want to, but if he stared too long Halt might suspect something. Friends usually didn't watch friends get naked.

Awkwardly, Will began taking off his shirt and tried to ignore the person behind him.

They could faintly hear the cool air blowing through the open door, but the water was warm, so the room got steamy and warm rather than cold. Will and Halt didn't dare sit next to each other; they kept their backs turned, on opposite aisles. They barely spoke… Halt frequently did things that unintentionally ended in Will having to go the extra mile to keep his feelings in check, and that was part of the problem with liking somebody you were close to non-romantically. But never before had anything gone as far as this.

For some reason Will had convinced himself that sitting in a bath with Halt would be fun rather than awkward and embarrassing, but bathing out in the open was different because there was no water to cover them. People from this country obviously weren't as conservative, in this respect, as the westerners.

Will reached back to soap up the back of his neck. He had to twist his body several degrees around to comfortably reach that spot with the sponge… and it suddenly occurred to Will that if he looked just a little farther he would be able to see Halt's back.

Oh, it was tempting. Will was afraid that Halt would catch him staring… but, he reasoned, why would Halt see him staring unless Halt was looking too?

The temptation was killing him. If he didn't look, he was sure he would regret it for the rest of his life, so soon enough Will's curiosity took over him. He gave up on any hope of regaining sanity and slowly looked over his shoulder…

Halt's skin was a dark tan, like he knew it was, but it was never more obvious than it was now. His dripping wet, black hair reached halfway down his neck and stuck to his skin beautifully. Will's eyes roamed from Halt's neck to his shoulder blades, down his spine… It wasn't a sexual attraction (not all of it), it was that and more. He wasn't so much infatuated with Halt's body as he was with Halt in general. His two feelings of romantic and sexual attraction felt so similar he couldn't tell them apart anymore.

Will would stare at him forever if somebody gave him the chance. He couldn't get enough of him. Will's eyes slowly grazed over the older ranger's body again, going back up his spine the way the came, but instead of admiring his neck again, he found himself staring right back into Halt's accusing eyes.

Will's heart jumped in his throat. He gasped and turned back around, trembling with fear. How long had Halt been watching him? And Will had been too distracted to notice…

"Can I help you with something, Will?" Halt asked. He was using the same tone he used to interrogate people he knew were lying to him.

"No," Will said. "I'm fine." He was trying to be as calm as possible, because maybe if Will acted like it was no big deal then he could convince Halt of the same thing. No, he was not just staring at his naked back and wishing he could trace his fingers down his skin and kiss him. Not at all.

Will didn't hear another sound come from Halt for the next minute. He could only imagine what was going through Halt's mind right now. Confusion? Disgust? Was he even going to say anything about it? Will wanted him to, but at the same time he was deathly afraid of what he might say.

Goddammit. Will couldn't take all this suspense. He begged Halt to do something, anything-

"Will."

And suddenly Will wanted Halt to shut up and completely ignore him. He tried to steady his voice as much as possible so he wouldn't waver unevenly when he answered, "Y-Yes, Halt?"

"There's one more custom I read about in these bath houses."

Will froze. "What's that?" he asked.

Halt responded without a moment of hesitation. "It's hard to reach your back, so usually if somebody is bathing with you they wash your back out of courtesy."

Will was kind of relieved, and kind of disappointed. But when he thought harder about it, he realized that what Halt was suggesting would still make things a thousand times worse.

When Will didn't respond, Halt continued for him. "So if you still want to explore their culture-"

"Oh stop holding that over my head already," Will snapped. "If you really didn't want to come here you could've backed out."

Halt shook his head where Will couldn't see. "No, I didn't mean that." There was a long pause in between that and his next words, "I don't have to if you don't want."

"No, it's fine. I mean, I don't really mind." Will knew he moment after he said those words that he shouldn't have said them. At least not like that. He sounded eager. Now he was giving Halt even more reasons to be suspicious.

But Halt seemed to ignore it. Will, with his back turned, could hear Halt standing up and walking over to his side of the room. Just the thought of them being so close, in this situation, made Will's blood rush. Then he heard the legs of the stool clacking quietly against the tile, only a few feet away.

Halt sat down, and rubbed the bar of soap he had carried over quickly in between his hands. Will didn't even look over his shoulder to see what was happening, so he didn't know what to expect or when to expect it until Halt pressed his hands to Will's mid-back.

Will flinched at the touch at first, not because it was uncomfortable. Halt's hands moved in smooth, circular motions across Will's back, to rub the soap in before he washed it off. Will doubted Halt realized how gentle he was being, but Will felt it, and he loved it. He loved how Halt pressed his whole hand against him, not just his fingers but his palm too, even though it didn't relax him. It did the exact opposite. If just holding hands with him had made Will excited, how could he he handle this?

Halt could see it very clearly. "Is it okay?" he asked.

"N-Not too bad." If only he knew.

"Stop tensing your muscles up," Halt said, not without a hint of compassion. "It's unnerving."

"Sorry."

"But you look even more anxious than I am."

"Yeah, it's just…" Will paused, debating in his head whether or not to continue. He decided against it. "Different."

Still, Will didn't notice until it was too late how the hands were slowly creeping further down his spine. Halt's fingers grazed the top of his tailbone and Will almost jumped out of his skin. But I can't relax when you're doing stuff like that! Will wanted to scream at him. What kind of culture was this?!

Then Halt took his hands off Will completely. He reached his arm around him to grab the wooden bucket on one side of Will, but that was a tiny bit of a problem with how close they were. As Halt reached around him, he pressed his bare chest against Will's back and Will had to bite his lower lip to keep from saying or doing anything.

Halt may or may not have muttered a quick apology; Will was too distracted to hear it. The feeling of Halt leaning against him was taking over everything in his mind. It actually felt really, really good, so good Will's body was begging to grind against him but thank God he had enough self-control not to.

The sponge he used next, after he took his back off of him, wasn't as intimate at before, but Will could still feel the pressure Halt was putting behind it through the cushiony surface. Every once in awhile, one of his fingers would accidentally brush against him.

Also, Halt was leaning closer to him and Will didn't know why. The older ranger exhaled out his mouth and Will could feel his breath on his neck. It sent shivers down his spine and his mind into a frenzy.

But Halt stopped abruptly, and Will had to bite back a sigh. "There," Halt said, and he stood up.

"W-Want me to do yours?" Will asked. He kind of wanted to, even if his mind (and his body) still hadn't fully recovered from that.

"No, thanks. I could reach mine." Halt picked up his clean clothes and left the room. "I'm getting in," he said, his voice getting softer as he got farther away.

Will stared at the ground, unsure of what to make of that. Will hadn't tried to reach his own back, so could he have avoided that entire thing? Did he even want to?

The night wasn't over yet, either.

He didn't try to follow him until Halt was outside. To save them both a little awkwardness (mostly Will), he wrapped a towel around his waist before he walked out to the bath.

Around the bath, outside, were green trees and plants clearly native to that country. It was a beautiful place to be. The flower bed behind the bath was so thickly covered in greenery that Will couldn't see the fence behind it that bordered them in. He recognized one part as a bamboo plant, but it was kept in a vase rather than being allowed to grow out. Bamboo plants could take over an entire yard in a matter of days. The whole scene reminded Will of a zen garden, or at least it had that same aesthetic.

The air outside was a huge 180 to how steamy it had been inside. It encouraged Will to quickly get in the water before he got too cold and his body forgot how hot it had been inside.

Halt had the courtesy to look away while Will took off the towel, and stepped in the water. When Halt looked up again, Will was sitting a few yards away from him, arms drawn in fairly close to his body in what was probably embarrassment left over from the last room.

"You can clearly see the stars from here," Halt said. His head fell back to stare straight up at the sky. Will thought he looked beautiful with his hair out of his eyes like that. Also, with Halt's arms propped up on the sides of the bath, Will could get a good look at his chest again.

He knew in his heart he didn't deserve to be this intimate with him, with these kinds of thoughts infecting his mind.

Will smiled. The stars were pretty, but he'd rather look at Halt. "This is actually kind of nice," Will admitted. More like bittersweet. "Emperor Shigeru wasn't kidding when he said this was relaxing. It's like all my worries are washing away." Most of them.

He stopped staring at Halt before he got caught again, and sunk down further into the water. "I might go to sleep," Will mumbled.

"Don't do that. I'll leave you here."

"Then do. I'll stay here forever and never go back to the Corps." Will grinned, nearly giddy again. The water felt so good, and Halt's light- not light but carefree voice was making everything better, like it always did.

"You know, Emperor Shigeru would probably let you."

Will laughed. "He would. But would you?"

"It'd be a load off my mind," Halt replied, dismissively. "Go ahead. Throw away your oakleaf to spend the rest of your life in a hot tub."

"I will, then." Will, down to his chin now in the water, closed his eyes and feigned going to sleep. He wasn't that tired. Or at least he thought, but after Will closed his eyes he found that sleep was a lot closer than he thought. He really could fall asleep here…

"You'll drown if you sleep like that," Halt grunted. He took ahold of Will's arm, and pulled him up forcefully out of the water. His sleep disrupted, Will opened his eyes and looked lazily at Halt, but he had gotten… closer since he last saw him. The three feet of distance between them had been reduced to half a foot. Halt was looking Will straight in his eyes…

The spell of drowsiness broke and Will snapped fully awake. The shock was obvious on his face, but Will didn't open his mouth to gasp, or say something, unlike so many times before. He was frozen, now, and he couldn't bring himself to pull away or do anything about it. He waited for Halt to back away and treat it like nothing, but five seconds passed and he didn't move. For a while Will really thought he could kiss him.

Halt smiled. "You look nervous," he said.

"Do I? I'm not."

Halt's smile was more of a smirk, now, but damn was it attractive on him. He leaned away, against the side of the tub and propped his elbows up. It was how he sat last time, but it was different this time because he was so close to Will. Now it was as if his arm was around him.

"Do you know the constellations I told you when you were an apprentice?" Halt asked, like nothing had just happened and his arm was totally not around his former apprentice.

"I-I think so."

"You think?"

"Yeah, well… I go outside most nights and look at the stars before I go to bed," Will explained. His mind was half there, half not, so his voice sounded distant. He really wasn't thinking about what he said. "Sometimes I'm too tired and sometimes the sky is too cloudy, but when I can… yeah, I think about them and remember what you told me. It's funny, it almost feels like you're there when I do."

Will heard himself the second after he said those words, too late to stop himself mid-sentence. Halt turned his eyes from the sky back to Will, after Will had gone red again and looked away. Shit, he thought. Oh, shit, why did I… He tried to scoot away. Throughout the past ten minutes Will had been dropping a lot of hints (not dropping as in being subtle and leading him on, but as in tripping over and over again and being unable to keep the hints in his arms and he kept dropping them). But this was the most obvious one yet. He could pass it off as platonically missing his old mentor, but with everything that had happened before that? No, no way. That was the last straw and his life was over.

Will tried to scoot away, but Halt reached further around him and wrapped his hand around his shoulder, preventing him from going anywhere. Unable to resist it, Will met Halt's eyes again and saw him smiling. How could Halt be smiling? Did he hear him? And they were close, now, closer than they'd been before. If Halt didn't say something soon, Will was sure his heart was going to explode-

"Are you going to do something, or do I need to be this close for you to get the idea?" Halt whispered. When he spoke, his mouth was so close his breath hit Will's lips.

Will's eyebrows came together in sudden perplexity. "Huh?" he asked.

"How much do I need to tease you before you do something about it?"

"Y-You're… teasing me? What?"

Halt was tired of waiting for him to catch up, so he didn't bother explaining. He closed the little space between them, and finally pressed his lips to Will's, hard.

At first Will thought he was imagining it, but the feeling was too real. He could've never dreamt up something this vivid. Halt's lips moved as gently and passionately as Will had thought they'd be. Halt's arm moved across to his neck, pulling him deeper, but he didn't need any prompt from Halt. He gave himself, surrendered himself completely into the kiss and pushed all the other thoughts into the back of his mind for later. He didn't let anything distract him from this. When Halt felt Will kissing back, he drew his arm even closer and used it to tilt Will's jaw to the side.

When Halt pulled away, he left Will gasping for air. "H-Halt…" Will panted… then he remembered what Halt had said before he kissed him. And he exploded. "You were teasing me?!" Will exclaimed.

"If I were any other guy, would you have thought I was? That's a very biased opinion."

"That was torture!" Will said. "Is washing each other's backs even a custom in bath houses?!"

"Actually, it is," Halt told him honestly. "I just took advantage of it."

"You're fucking awful!"

"But I was right."

"You're still awful!"

Despite his tone, Will was laughing and punching Halt lightly on the chest. He couldn't pretend like he was angry through that stupid grin stuck on his face. He couldn't deny how happy he was.

After a minute, Will settled down. Then he got really quiet. "Halt…" he started, "so… you, like me, then?"

"Oh, no, Will, I just kissed you for the hell of it- yes I like you, you idiot." He reached one hand still around Will up and ran it through the back of his hair. Will grinned at the touch. He could see a small smile on Halt's lips, indicating he liked it as much as Will did.

"If you had been wrong, it would've been a very different situation."

"But I knew I was right. I saw the way you were looking at me," Halt said. "That was plenty."

"Since when were you so cocky?" Usually Will was the more forthcoming of the two, but it was true that Halt would've caught on a lot quicker than Will had. Halt could separate his emotions and his logic better than Will could.

"Since you were so thick-headed you couldn't understand that a guy pressing his naked back up against you wasn't flirting," Halt said, a little too smugly.

"Oh shut up already."

Halt apologized maybe once or twice, and kissed him again. And again. And again, until time escaped them completely and they had been in that bath for maybe an hour, maybe two, but they didn't mind staying there the whole night if they never had to go back to their ranger lives, with the mission at hand and the professionalism they had to uphold.

Will worried, would things change once this was over?

They didn't. Halt and Will walked back to their rooms together with no awkwardness between them. It had been a very long night, and Will was ready to go to bed the second he reached his room. Halfway there, Will decided to make the first move (or, at that point, the second). When there was nobody around to see, he took Halt's hand. They were tough and warm, like he remembered. Halt squeezed back.

"Goodnight," Will said, when they reached their doors.

"Goodnight," Halt replied. But, even after he said it, something didn't feel right about that goodbye. It was too casual for what had happened that night.

Before their hands could completely let go of each other, Halt took Will's back harder and pulled him closer, again, so their faces were just an inch apart. Will didn't look scared this time.

"See you tomorrow," Halt whispered. Will grinned, and leaned forward enough to peck him on the lips.

"Until then," he whispered, and then pulled away. Will reached, and opened his door before Halt did, but he made sure to look back. The last thing Halt saw before Will disappeared to go to bed was him, smiling, winking at Halt before he shut the door. Halt chuckled.

Now Will was the one teasing him, wasn't he?


End file.
